Born in the UK, Animals Asia founder and CEO Jill Robinson arrived in Hong Kong in 1985 and spent 12 years working in Asia as a consultant for the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Repeatedly faced with scenes of widespread animal cruelty, Jill founded “Dr Dog” in Hong Kong in 1991 – the first animal-therapy program in Asia.

In 1993, a visit to a bear farm in southern China changed Jill’s life. Exposing the plight of endangered Asiatic black bears (also known as moon bears) cruelly farmed and milked for their bile, and learned how easily herbs and synthetics could replace bear bile, Jill embarked on a journey to end the practice of bear farming once and for all.

In 1998, she founded Animals Asia, an organization that is devoted to ending the barbaric practice of bear bile farming and improving the welfare of animals in China and Vietnam by promoting compassion and respect for all animals, and working to bring about long-term change.

Animals Asia began as a small group working out of Jill’s front room. She has built the organization into a respected international NGO with over 300 staff, an annual turnover of more than $9 million, award-winning bear sanctuaries in China and Vietnam, headquarters in Hong Kong, and offices in Australia, China, Germany, Italy, the UK, US and Vietnam.

Entries by Jill Robinson

Since 1993, the images of suffering brown eyes have haunted those of us in Animals Asia who have made investigations of over one hundred bear bile farms across Asia. Despite ongoing reassurances from farmers that methods of bile extraction are "humane" we have seen not one bear to...

Arriving in Nanning, China to begin three days of emergency health checks on bears living on a former bear bile farm, we looked up at the sky, greeted by a beautiful crescent moon. A good sign considering we were on our way to help endangered moon bears, so...

Just recently we celebrated the rescue of another "bile farmed" bear who had spent 14 years of his life caged and extracted of his bile. Ti Map, (or Chubby Mouse), was the last farmed bear in the province of Binh Thuan in southern Vietnam and was rather remarkably...

China has been in the news relentlessly this past year in relation to the mass slaughter of elephants and rhinos in Africa and Asia for the country's inexhaustible demand of their tusks and horns. Comments to such stories often expose sweeping statements from people across the globe that all Chinese...

One of the most tragic scenes imaginable is that of majestic wild animals being abused; terrible scenes of de-toothed and de-clawed tigers and lions being hurt and forced to perform degrading tricks for the so-called entertainment of the public. These big cats are whipped and goaded to pose, opening toothless...

In August Animals Asia celebrated 15 years of working to end cruelty toward animals in Asia. On the very day of the anniversary, at a ceremony in Chengdu, China, 150 Chinese drugstores announced that they would no longer sell bear bile products. The event was organized by Animals...

Every bear, whether they live incarcerated on a bile farm or have found freedom at one of Animals Asia's sanctuaries, is special in his or her own way. Bears who are victims of the bile industry may spend their entire lives in tiny cages being painfully farmed for their bile....

In January six endangered moon bears arrived at Animals Asia's peaceful China sanctuary, finally finding freedom after years spent trapped in tiny cages and painfully farmed for their bile on an illegal bear bile farm in Sichuan province. The rescue was a joint effort between Animals Asia and our government...